Mr. Rangel (for
himself, Mr. Jones, and
Ms. McCollum) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on
Ways and Means,
the Judiciary,
Agriculture, and
Financial Services, for a
period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the
committee concerned

A BILL

To facilitate the export of United States agricultural
products to Cuba as authorized by the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export
Enhancement Act of 2000, to remove impediments to the export to Cuba of medical
devices and medicines, to allow travel to Cuba by United States legal
residents, to establish an agricultural export promotion program with respect
to Cuba, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the
Promoting American Agricultural and
Medical Exports to Cuba Act of 2011.

2.

Clarification of
payment terms under the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of
2000

in subparagraph
(C), by striking the period at the end and inserting ; and;
and

(3)

by adding at the
end the following:

(D)

the term
payment of cash in advance means, notwithstanding any other
provision of law, the payment by the purchaser of an agricultural commodity or
product and the receipt of such payment by the seller prior to—

(i)

the transfer of
title of such commodity or product to the purchaser; and

(ii)

the release of
control of such commodity or product to the
purchaser.

.

3.

Authorization of
direct transfers between Cuban and United States financial institutions under
the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000

(a)

In
general

Notwithstanding any
other provision of law, the President may not restrict direct transfers from a
Cuban depository institution to a United States depository institution executed
in payment for a product authorized for sale under the Trade Sanctions Reform
and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7201 et seq.).

(b)

Depository
institution defined

In this
section, the term depository institution means any entity that is
engaged primarily in the business of banking (including a bank, savings bank,
savings association, credit union, trust company, or bank holding
company).

4.

Establishment of
agricultural export promotion program with respect to Cuba

(a)

In
general

The Secretary of
Agriculture shall establish a program to provide information and technical
assistance to United States agricultural producers, cooperative organizations,
or State agencies that promote the sale of agricultural commodities, in order
to promote and facilitate United States exports of agricultural products to
Cuba as authorized by the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of
2000.

(b)

Technical
assistance To facilitate exports

The Secretary shall maintain on the Web
site of the Department of Agriculture information to assist exporters and
potential exporters of United States agricultural commodities with respect to
Cuba.

(c)

Authorization of
funds

The Secretary is
authorized to expend such sums as may be available in the Agricultural Export
Promotion Trust Fund established under section 9512 of the Internal Revenue
Code of 1986 (as added by section 9(b) of this Act).

5.

Issuance of visas
to conduct activities in accordance with the trade sanctions reform and export
enhancement act of 2000

(a)

Issuance of
visas

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in the case of
a Cuban national whose itinerary documents an intent to conduct activities,
including phytosanitary inspections, related to purchasing United States
agricultural goods under the provisions of the Trade Sanctions Reform and
Export Enhancement Act of 2000, a consular officer (as defined in section
101(a)(9) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(9))) may
issue a nonimmigrant visa under section 101(a)(15)(B) of such Act (8 U.S.C.
1101(a)(15)(B)) to the national, if the national is not inadmissible to the
United States under section 212 of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1182).

(b)

Periodic
reports

(1)

In
general

Not later than 45 days after the date of enactment of
this Act and every 3 months thereafter the Secretary of State shall submit to
the Committees on Finance, Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, and Foreign
Relations of the Senate and the Committees on Agriculture, Ways and Means, and
Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives a report on the issuance of
visas described in subsection (a).

(2)

Content of
reports

Each report shall contain a full description of each
application received from a Cuban national to travel to the United States to
engage in purchasing activities pursuant to the Trade Sanctions Reform and
Export Enhancement Act of 2000 and shall describe the disposition of each such
application.

6.

Adherence to
international agreements for the mutual protection of intellectual
property

(a)

Repeal of
Prohibition on Transactions or Payments With Respect to Certain United States
Intellectual Property

Section
211 of the Department of Commerce and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999
(section 101(b) of division A of Public Law 105–277; 112 Stat. 2681–88), is
repealed.

(b)

Regulations

The
Secretary of the Treasury shall promulgate such regulations as are necessary to
carry out the repeal made by subsection (a), including removing any prohibition
on transactions or payments to which subsection (a)(1) of section 211 of the
Department of Commerce and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999 (as such
section was in effect on the day before the date of the enactment of this Act),
applied.

(c)

Further
regulations

(1)

In
general

The Secretary of the Treasury shall amend part 515 of
title 31, Code of Federal Regulations (the Cuban assets control regulations),
to authorize under general license the transfer or receipt of any trademark or
trade name subject to United States law in which a designated national has an
interest.

(2)

Designated
national defined

In this
subsection, the term designated national has the meaning given the
term in subsection (d)(1) of section 211 of the Department of Commerce and
Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999 (as such section was in effect on the
day before the date of the enactment of this Act).

7.

Travel to
Cuba

(a)

Freedom of
travel for United States citizens and legal residents

Subject to
subsection (c), the President shall not regulate or prohibit, directly or
indirectly, travel to or from Cuba by United States citizens or legal
residents, or any of the transactions incident to such travel that are set
forth in subsection (b). The President shall rescind all regulations in effect
on the date of the enactment of this Act that so regulate or prohibit such
travel or transactions.

(b)

Transactions
incident to travel

The transactions referred to in subsection (a)
are—

(1)

any transactions
ordinarily incident to travel to or from Cuba, including the importation into
Cuba or the United States of accompanied baggage for personal use only;

(2)

any transactions
ordinarily incident to travel or maintenance within Cuba, including the payment
of living expenses and the acquisition of goods or services for personal
use;

(3)

any transactions
ordinarily incident to the arrangement, promotion, or facilitation of travel
to, from, or within Cuba;

(4)

any transactions
incident to nonscheduled air, sea, or land voyages, except that this paragraph
does not authorize the carriage of articles into Cuba or the United States
except accompanied baggage; and

(5)

normal banking
transactions incident to the activities described in the preceding provisions
of this subsection, including the issuance, clearing, processing, or payment of
checks, drafts, travelers checks, credit or debit card instruments, or similar
instruments;

except that
this section does not authorize the importation into the United States of any
goods for personal consumption acquired in Cuba.(c)

Exception

The
restrictions on authority contained in subsection (a) do not apply in a case in
which the United States is at war with Cuba, armed hostilities between the two
countries are in progress, or there is imminent danger to the public health or
the physical safety of United States citizens or legal residents.

(d)

Applicability

This
section applies to actions taken by the President before the date of the
enactment of this Act which are in effect on such date of enactment, and to
actions taken on or after such date of enactment.

Nothing in the
amendment made by subsection (a) shall be construed to restrict the authority
of the President to—

(1)

impose export
controls with respect to the export of medicines or medical devices under
sections 5 or 6 of the Export Administration Act of 1979; or

(2)

exercise the
authorities the President has under the International Emergency Economic Powers
Act with respect to Cuba pursuant to a declaration of national emergency
required by that Act that is made on account of an unusual and extraordinary
threat, that did not exist before the enactment of this Act, to the national
security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States.

9.

Increase in
airport ticket tax for transportation between United States and Cuba;
establishment of agricultural export promotion trust fund

(a)

Increase in
ticket tax

Subsection (c) of section 4261 of the Internal Revenue
Code of 1986 (relating to use of international travel facilities) is amended by
adding at the end the following new paragraph:

(4)

Special rule for
cuba

In any case in which the tax imposed by paragraph (1)
applies to transportation beginning or ending in Cuba before January 1, 2013,
such tax shall be increased by
$1.00.

.

(b)

Agricultural
export promotion trust fund

(1)

In
general

Subchapter A of chapter 98 of the Internal Revenue Code
of 1986 (relating to establishment of trust funds) is amended by adding at the
end the following new section:

9512.

Agricultural
export promotion trust fund

(a)

Creation of
trust fund

There is established in the Treasury of the United
States a trust fund to be known as the Agricultural Export Promotion
Trust Fund, consisting of such amounts as may be appropriated or
credited to such fund as provided in this section or section 9602(b).

(b)

Transfers to
trust fund

There are hereby appropriated to the Agricultural
Export Promotion Trust Fund amounts equivalent to the taxes received in the
Treasury by reason of section 4261(c)(4).

(c)

Expenditures

Amounts in the Agricultural Export
Promotion Trust Fund shall be available, as provided by appropriation Acts, for
making expenditures to the Office of the Secretary of Agriculture for the
purposes set out in section 4 of the Promoting American Agricultural and
Medical Exports to Cuba Act of
2011.

.

(2)

Conforming
amendment

Subparagraph (B) of section 9502(b)(1) of such Code is
amended by inserting (other than by reason of subsection (c)(4)
thereof) after sections 4261.

(3)

Clerical
amendment

The table of sections for subchapter A of chapter 98 of
such Code is amended by adding at the end the following new item:

Sec. 9512. Agricultural Export Promotion Trust
Fund.

.

(c)

Effective
date

The amendment made by subsection (a) shall apply to
transportation beginning after the 90-day period beginning on the date of the
enactment of this Act, except that such amendment shall not apply to amounts
paid before the end of such period.

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